


The Lost Kingdom

by littlewinterwonderland



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Atlantis AU, F/M, shiro is a nerd and i love it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 03:51:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11889393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlewinterwonderland/pseuds/littlewinterwonderland
Summary: "…in a single day and night of misfortune, the kingdom of Altea, perhaps the greatest civilization on earth, disappeared into the depths of the sea. It left behind only mystery, gloom and a boy with a heart made for the unknown"





	The Lost Kingdom

**Author's Note:**

> this is a Shallura Atlantis AU based on the movie "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" inspired by one random ask that @shiroallura (on tumblr). Thanks for letting me write this! Hope I make justice to the movie  
> Now, sit back and enjoy the ride ;)

 

_"…in a single day and night of misfortune,_

_the kingdom of Altea,_

_perhaps the greatest civilization on earth,_

_disappeared into the depths of the sea."_

 

Shiro always loved the sea. In fact, growing up, he would open his window and see the deep blues, the sunrise turning it into an amazing painting. Oil and acrylic and canvas turned into glory. As a little boy he wanted to be a painter, fantasizing about museums and galleries and maybe storyboards for animated films (Ghibli filled his childhood with dreams of pastel universes). But then, he met his grandfather. His dad called him insane, but he sure loved that father of his.

Takashi Shirogane was a great man, an explorer of lost cities and fallen empires, and the one who gave his name to little Shiro. The younger Takashi was a carbon copy of the elder one, both adventurers, both lovers of languages no one would ever understand, riddles and legends only found in caves forgotten by time.

When his parents died (tragedy smells like ashes and a bad gas connection), the old explorer took the little boy, five years of age, teddy bear between his hands and tears streaming down his face, and gave him a home in the shores of England. And yet again, Shiro grew up watching the sea unfold under the lights of the early morning sun. But he spent little time in the UK. Shiro grew up in the back of his grandpa’s pick up; he grew up walking down the dunes of Egypt, drinking his weight in water the Arizona desert and rummaging through the ruins of ancient ruins in China.

Then there was Iceland. It was like the Mecca for his grandfather. He believed that there he could find the entrance to a civilization lost to time.

“ _Altea, a kingdom brighter and technologically more advanced than any other in the world, maybe in the universe. They had ships that sailed the skies thousands of years before electricity was created, before we dared to dream with the stars_ ”

“ _And why do you want to find it?_ ” the boy of the changing voice asked, puberty is hitting hard on this one.

“ _Ah, the possibilities are unlimited, Shiro! Technology without electricity could change the world, end up the wars for resources, and push us up into the outer space. Finding Altea would change the face of our known universe forever. Don’t you want to be an explorer of the universe?_ ”

“ _Yeah, I would like to be an astronaut_ ”

“ _Forget being an astronaut, my boy! You could become an explorer like the ones you see in Science Fiction movies! The altean technology could take us beyond what any man has ever seen before_ ”

“ _So… the final frontier would become the first frontier, kinda?_ ”

“ _Something like that, yes!_ ” the old man, sixty years of age stands up, tall as ever, picks up a little notebook and hands it to Shiro “ _But first, we need to find this_ ”

“ _What is this?_ ” he says, looking down to the illustration of some sort of blue book with golden runes painted on top of it.

“ _The Diary of the Traveller_ ” Shiro raises and eyebrow and his grandfather laughs “ _it’s a book that explains how, when and where to find Altea_ ”

“ _When?_ ” he says, confused, still trying to decipher the words printed next to the illustration.

“ _Yes, the entrance will only be open for a couple of quintants before it shuts down again for the Lord knows how many decaphoebs_ ”

“ _Quick question, grandpa_ ” the man raises his eyebrows, expectant, and Shiro proceeds “ _what on earth is a quintant and a decaphobia?_ ”

“ _Decaphoeb, and it means year. And a quintant is a day. They are altean units of time_ ”

“ _Oh, that’s interesting_ ”

“ _Yes, it is. And there is more, young one. You still have so much to learn_ ”

But Shiro had to learn what more was to that mystery by himself, because his grandfather disappeared. The mission to Iceland, where the Diary of the Traveller was supposed to be, formed by seven explorers, disappeared without a trace. Someone found a backpack and someone else said that he saw them fall down a cliff when one of the heavier pieces of equipment collapsed.

 

 

Takashi Shirogane, the younger one, the one of the furrowed eyebrows and newly found deep voice at 16 years of age, discovered that there was only one difference between a memorial and a funeral: in the latter, you have a body to bury; in the first one you only bury memories.

But he never forgot how to spell decaphoeb... or what to do if he ever came across the Diary of the Traveller.

 

 

“ _Good evening, gentlemen_ ” he cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses “ _thank you for coming here. I promise not to entertain you for far too long_ ” he laughed nervously. There was no answer. Shiro stood in front of a chalkboard, wearing his white button-up shirt with a red bowtie, red because it looked good with the brown vest and the black tailored pants. There was silence, he felt excited and bubbly.

“ _Now, we've all heard of the legend of Altea, a continent that was struck by a cataclysmic event that sank it beneath the waters of the ocean. Now, some of you may ask, it’s just a myth, isn't it? Well, you are wrong!_ ” he laughed, a triumphant laugh and then a nervous one. Shiro readjusted his glasses over the bridge of his nose and proceeded “ _Altea had electricity. How? Well, numerous ancient cultures agreed that it possessed some sort of power source that was both unlimited and more powerful than any known energy source to date. I propose that we find Altea, find that power and bring it to the surface, changing the shape of our world forever!_ ”

“ _Now, based on a centuries-old translation of a text in old-Swedish, historians and connoisseurs of the legend of Altea have theorized about Ireland’s shores being the place where we can find the «Diary of the Traveller» an illuminated text that tells us the exact whereabouts of Altea. But, after comparing the text to other runes present in different items across the Nordic cultures, I found that one of the letters had been mistranslated. Making the place where we can find the Diary of the Traveller is Iceland not Ireland_ ”

The empty classroom, where he usually gave literature lessons to the snobs of the private school in the outskirts of London, received his words with silence… until a female-sounding voice shattered the glass.

“Nice conference, professor!”

Shiro jumped out of his place, dropping maps and paper all over the floor.

There was a woman standing at the door, light-purple hair, dark skin, a tight silver dress that covered the upper half of her legs and a devilish smile on her face. He blushed violently, picking up his papers while trying to keep his glasses from falling.

“May… May I help you, madame?” Shiro said, gulping violently when she approached him, the sounds of her high heels echoing.

“Oh no, Takashi Shirogane; I’M going to help YOU” she replied.

“Excuse me?” A shiver traversed up Shiro’s spine as she opened a black bag he hadn’t noticed before.  

“I have in my possession something that may be interesting to you, something that may have consumed your sleep hours for years, young man”

The woman placed an object wrapped in plain brown paper over his desk, next to the half-empty coffee mug.

“Have fun and call me when you are ready” she winked, turned around and the sound of her heels echoed in the dark, as Shiro opened the small package.

His eyes shot wide open as the runes in gold and silver shone down the yellow light of classroom 403. His hands couldn’t stay away from the old blue cover, tainted by the years and the mystery, his every fingertip caressing the surfaces where missing pearls once laid. Not even once he thought that the day would come where he would see this in person, much less touch it, read the words. Rune after rune after rune. He was ecstatic.

“The Diary of the Traveller…” someone said through his lips. He knew it wasn’t him because Shiro was long gone, floating somewhere in the sky, his spirit sprinting across the paradise.

It was surreal.

But somehow, it was real.

Shiro had in his hands, the Diary of the Traveller, the book that killed his grandfather and occupied his mind for years to come after that. How was this even real?

Turning around, next to the now ripped apart envelope, he noticed a little white card. It had a number written on it.

Shiro hesitated. He waited long enough for the sky outside to turn dark. He typed the numbers, called and immediately hung up more than once. Finally, he gave up and called, waiting patiently until someone picked up.

“ _Hello?_ ” the female voice he heard before asked.

“ _Hello, it’s… it’s me. I’m Takashi Shirogane, the professor._ ”

“ _Didn’t took long, did it?_ ” a faint laugh was heard through the speaker. But his mind was foggy and the only thoughts running through it were screams in different languages.

“ _How did you get this? Where did you find it? How did you find it?_ ” he questioned, each word louder than the prior one. He heard a ‘shh’

“ _One answer for many questions, Shiro; I didn’t get it alone. I’m one of the tactical coordinators of a team made out of the best of the best, explorers who travel the world finding relics of old times. We are waiting now for your orders to start the search for Altea_ ”

“ _For A-a-altea?!_ ” his voice cracked, was it possible now to find the lost kingdom?

“ _Of course_ ” she replied, giggling as if he said something incredibly obvious “ _You already have the diary, now you can go find Altea and bring it back to the world. Bring back its magic, its power source, and make out of this world a better one, a brighter one. Shiro… we could change the world_ ”

“ _This is… this is surreal_ ”

“ _It may be, but it’s here. It’s real. Isn’t this what your grandfather would have wanted?_ ”

“ _You knew my grandfather?_ ” the cloud around his head was getting heavier and heavier. What was really going on here?

“ _Yes. One of my older brothers went with him to his last fateful mission. Now I follow his footsteps, we all do. Are you willing to follow him and risk everything in hopes of finding Altea?”_

He sighed, adjusted his glasses over the bridge of his nose and brought back the image of his grandfather saying goodbye, promising to come back and take him to Altea. Maybe this was the way he was coming back, a book and the possibility of bringing honour to his name.

_“I am willing. I want to find Altea.”_

 

 

 


End file.
